Leopard wine route anyone? Different take on the Cape
LEOPARDS and wine? Well, it’s a stronger link than between wild dogs and wine (apologies to the makers of Painted Wolf Wines who did so well in the Top 10 Pinotage Competition). In fact, while the winelands of the Cape are far away from the great game reserves in the northern and eastern reaches of South Africa, the chances of seeing one of the Big Five strolling among the vines are better than zero – quite a lot better.
Recent reports of an adult with cubs having been photographed at Plaisir de Merle on the Simonsberg in Simondium outside Franschhoek followed sightings earlier in the year by the folks at Vondeling in the Voor Paardeberg area north-west of Paarl and at Tokara on the Simonsberg off the Helshoogte Pass east of Stellenbosch. It was just a couple of years ago that we were hearing of a Boland beauty being spotted at Lourensford and Vergelegen in the Helderberg basin outside Somerset West, whereas Leopard’s Leap (Franschhoek), Knorhoek (Stellenbosch) and Ayama (Paarl) have artistic versions of the cat on their labels.